Tag Archives: natural disasters

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz has requested additional National Guard troops as looting spreads through the blacked-out areas of Coney Island, south Brooklyn, and Queens. “Governor Cuomo also acted quickly by activating the National Guard prior to the storm, and I urge him to allocate as many troops as possible to Brooklyn—troops from New York or any other states that …

Fire Island, which is arguably the most famous gay vacation destination in the world, was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The damage is so severe that the spokesman for the National Seashore believes that at least one new permanent inlet between the bay and the ocean has been created, effectively dividing Fire Island into two separate islands. Steve Weinstein has the …

There are still 12,000 pay phones in NYC and those without power are lining up. With power knocked out in her Sandy-ravaged neighborhood—rendering her cellphone useless—she got a crash course in the low-tech, low-status devices. She returned to her local pay phone Wednesday with more quarters and better knowledge of the pay-phone locations in her area. “You miraculously get resourceful …

As I noted yesterday, NYC’s subway reopens this morning with limited service on the undamaged lines in upper Manhattan and in the other boroughs. Here’s today’s MTA advisory: Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the MTA’s subway, bus and commuter rail services will be free for today and tomorrow, to encourage the use of mass transit as the region slowly recovers …

Here’s some great corporate citizenship from NYSC: No power or water? New York Sports Club announced today that it’s opening its doors free of charge to anyone who needs to shower, charge their cell phone, or blow off steam with a stress-relieving run on the treadmill. (We recommend all three.) The clubs will be open to the public (local residents …

Oh brother.

Occupy Wall Street activists have established several drop-off points for folks wishing to get food into the blackout zones across New York City.  More information is being posted on the Facebook page Occupy Sandy Relief NYC.  Food and money can also be donated to Food Bank NYC, whose warehouse on Hunt’s Point was flooded during the storm. Cash donations can …

The Boston Globe has devoted its regular Big Picture feature to numerous photos of what people are facing in the wake of Sandy. The UK’s Daily Mail has many photos as well.

As hundreds of thousands of Manhattan residents go into their third day without electricity, concerns are growing about the lack of food. One of the readers of Gothamist reports on the scene downtown: Virtually every retailer, restaurant and grocery store south of 38th street is CLOSED. This is in an area covering 8 square miles. I only observed a handful …

The MTA today announced a small resumption of service. Local, Limited-Stop and Express Bus service will operate as close to a normal weekday schedule as possible today, as NYC Transit and MTA Bus continue efforts to restore service following Hurricane Sandy. As was the case yesterday, bus service will operate on a fare-free basis. Subway service remains suspended on all …

A dismaying assessment: New York’s subway system may take weeks of work and tens of billions of dollars to be restored to full service as officials assess the toll from floods, hurricane-force winds and electrical damage that crippled the most populous U.S. city’s transportation hub. “I can say unequivocally that the MTA last night faced a disaster as devastating as …

And watch how he responds when the Fox team asks him about Mitt Romney. Bam!

From the storm update on Con Edison’s site: More than 650,000 customers in New York City and Westchester County lost electrical power due to Hurricane Sandy, Con Edison said early today. “This is the largest storm-related outage in our history,” said Con Edison Senior Vice President for Electric Operations John Miksad. The previous record was more than 200,000 customers affected …

If your power or cable (or both) is still out, the Weather Channel is continuing to stream live storm coverage on their YouTube channel.

Gothamist reports: There are multiple reports of flooding across the city due to the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy that is now upon the city. There have been reports of people trapped and cars floating in the middle of the streets. We’ve also received reports that many subway lines throughout the city have been flooded as well. The city has …

Romney is a man of the people. Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) spent close to an hour meeting with first responders and local officials. Romney shook hands with National Guardsmen outside the U.S. Post Office and talked with a local resident, Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac’s flooding. Chiarello said she told Romney, “I lost …